Guilty Conscience

“Ahem!” Turning around, he found the source of the sudden noise, his teacher.

………oh.

He let go of Louise, giving her the chance to return to her seat. With that, the teacher returned to the front of the class.

Why the hell did she sit on my lap though?

He turns back to the front of the class as the teacher begins the lesson. He ripped out a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote on it, giving it to Louise. Stop laughing.

Feeling something drop in the back of his shirt, he reached for it and pulled it out. I can’t believe you didn’t notice her standing right next to you.

I really do have no excuse.

Reading this his face began to redden as he put his head down on his desk in shame. After that, the class continued without any hitches.

I feel so…empty.

The class ended and he looked to Louise behind him.

“Hey, you’re awake this time.” With a wry smile, he jokingly called back to the previous day.

My words feel so lifeless. It’s not like I suddenly became a different person, I can say the same things and feel the same emotions…yet it’s as if they don’t even belong to me anymore. As if I was walking out of an airport and suddenly realized that I had taken someone else’s luggage instead.

“Hey, come on, that was a one-time thing okay.” Slightly flustered, she grabbed her bag and stood up.

His heart ached as he looked at her flustered expression, and he too grabbed his own bag.

“I was sure you were going to go off on your without me.” Meeting up with her at the door, he made a snide remark while hiding his face from her.

“That was just ‘cause there was barely any time left for me to get to class. If only, someone, could’ve woke me up.”

“Aha, you just looked…Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry about that.” Accidentally leaking his true thoughts, he stopped mid-way and apologized instead.

Why couldn’t I just say it?

“Anyway, we should get going before class starts.” Grabbing her hand, trying to play off his awkward behavior.

She pulls him close, letting her whisper into his ear. “Go by yourself.” Then throwing his hand off hers she walked away.

Oh…I see…I…was such an idiot.

He stood there still and watched her as she slowly walked to class.

Sorry Mom, I can’t that promise I made to you yesterday after all.

Faint tears rolled down his face as he sat down on the roof of the school building.

Why…did I have to go and get my hopes up like that?

He then leaned his back against the floor as he looked up at the somewhat cloudy sky. His chest began to swell with a murky feeling.

“I hate this…so much.” Rolling to his side he looked at the building surrounding the school.

He pulled out his phone and noticed a message from Louise: “Where are you?”

He quickly replied to her message: “Busy with something.”

I mean, that’s not…completely a lie.

Soon he received another message from her: “I see.”

Huh?

He tries to ask her what she means, but upon hitting the send button, a random number messaged him: “You are no longer able to contact this number, as the recipient has blocked this number.”

I really am a dumbass.

Hearing the bell for the next class to begin, he put his bag down next to his chair as he laid his head on the table, looking away from the person next to him.

“I was sulking.” Ashamed of himself, he spoke to her in a low tone.

After everything she did for me yesterday, I went and acted like ‘that’.

“Thank you.” He turned to face her, still leaning his head against the table.

“If you really want to show me your gratitude, then help me write the report for the lab.” Looking a little relieved, she began writing down something on a sheet of paper.

He picked his head up and leaned against her and whispered into her ear with a smug smile.

“I love you too.”

With blushing cheeks, he turned back to grab his stuff out of his bag and brought it to the table.

“That is…just not fair.” Clutching her ear with her shaking hand, she smiled gently.

Unable to resist his urges, he poked her soft, fluffy cheek and rectified his earlier mistake.

“You looked so cute sleeping yesterday…I couldn’t help wanting to look at you like that for as long as I could. I even ended up taking a picture too.” Becoming a little embarrassed as he revealed what transpired, he averted his eyes from her gaze.

“And…” Wanting to say one last thing, he began talking, but was cut off.

“There’s more?” Feeling embarrassed and happy she felt conflicted as she asked him.

Grabbing her hand which was now on the table, he interlocked his fingers and held it earnestly.

“It would’ve been nice if we could’ve something like this on our way to class.” Saying that, he looked down at their hands, and put his other hand on top of hers, gently caressing it. A beaming smile formed on his face and his eyes glistened as he looked back at Louise.

“Umm…are you okay?” Seeing her entire face burning up he let go of her hand and worriedly asked her.

“Of course, I’m not okay.” In a slightly raised voice she spoke and turned back to continue working.

Seeing her working, he began on his as well.

Suddenly, he heard a sweet voice gently ring.

Thank you.

That was Louise’s voice, but…why does it sound oddly familiar?